What is Behavior Therapy?

Although behavioral approaches for children and adolescents vary widely, they focuses primarily on how some problematic thoughts or behaviors may accidentally get "rewarded" within a young person's environment. These rewards or reinforcements often contribute to an increase in the frequency of these thoughts and behaviors. Behavior therapies can be applied to a wide range of psychological symptoms among adults, adolescents, and children. A couple of examples are provided below.

Although behavioral therapies are different from disorder to disorder, a common thread is that behavioral therapists encourage children and adolescents to try new behaviors and not to allow negative "rewards" to dictate the ways in which they act.

Example #1.

For instance, imagine a teenager who persistently requests permission to use the family car to go out with friends. After repeated requests to parents, and repeated denials for permission, the teenager becomes angry, irritable, and disobedient towards his/her parents. Following a tantrum, the parents decide they can not take the hassle any more and allow their child to borrow the car. By granting permission, the child actually has received a "reward" for throwing a tantrum. Behavior therapists say that by granting permission after a tantrum, the child has "learned" that disobedient behavior is actually an effective strategy for getting permission. Behavior therapists seek to understand such links between behaviors, rewards, and learning, and change negative patterns of thinking and behaving. In other words, in behavior therapy, parents and children can "un-learn" unhealthy behaviors, and instead reinforce positive behaviors.

Example #2.

Imagine that a child is afraid to ride in an elevator. To avoid the fear and anxiety, she might eventually refuse to ride in any elevators, and insist upon walking up flights of stairs instead. The extra time and energy that is needed to walk the stairs could cause both mother and child to be constantly late for work, appointments, etc. Behavior therapists suggest that avoiding the elevator has rewarded the child with the absence of anxiety and fear. Behavioral treatments for this child would involve supervised and guided experience with riding elevators until the "rewards" associated with avoidance have been "un-learned," and the negative associations she has with elevators has been "un-learned."

Information on Evidence-based Mental Health Treatment for Children and Adolescents has been provided by a partnership between the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies and the Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology